Top 10 ghostly places in Vancouver

Mary Frances Hill, Postmedia News06.27.2011

Hycroft Mansion was a stately home built for politician and war hero Gen. Alexander Duncan McRae. Since his demise, it’s been the haunt, literally, of many honourable ghostly guests.Glenn Baglo
/ Postmedia News

Since it was built in 1927, the Orpheum has played host to a variety of performers, including an acrobat who fell to his death during a vaudeville act. Since then, he’s been a regular fixture at the theatre, with many sightings of him - mostly as an orb of light - reported by staff and performers.Ian Lindsey
/ Postmedia News

Since it was built in 1927, the Orpheum has played host to a variety of performers, including an acrobat who fell to his death during a vaudeville act. Since then, he’s been a regular fixture at the theatre, with many sightings of him — mostly as an orb of light — reported by staff and performers.

2) Vogue Theatre, 918 Granville St.

Built in 1941, the Vogue Theatre was first established as a popular venue for concerts, plays and big-name performers. It’s also reportedly home to two ghosts, one of whom entertains and spooks guests with his footsteps and the opening of doors in the downstairs dressing room area. His pal enjoys shocking folks by appearing nonchalantly, dressed in a tux and bow tie, in the seating area. The ghosts have been spotted several times, including by a performer while on stage.

Opened in 1909, this 13-storey building was once the tallest in the British Empire, and Vancouver’s first steel-framed highrise. It’s now headquarters to many of the city’s young creative professionals who enjoy its well-maintained heritage character and affordable rent. A building of this stature deserved the big grand opening celebration it received. Sadly, the party was cut short for its architect, John S. Helyer. It’s said he either threw himself or fell down the stairs, and was killed. Since then, his spirit has been seen — and his footsteps heard — in the stairway between the seventh and eighth floors.

4) Hotel Vancouver, 900 W. Georgia

Cue the cheesy Chris de Burgh tune: The Hotel Vancouver’s resident ghost — the lady in red, as she’s known — won’t turn down your sheets. But she may scare the bejesus out of you when the elevator makes an unscheduled stop on the 14th floor, and there she appears, an elegant beauty floating along the hallway. Some stories have her walking on the window ledge. No worries; it’s not like she’s going to fall and die.

Paranormal enthusiasts seem to enjoy hearing footsteps and voices in the basement, and watching books and wall hangings fall down for no apparent reason. A mysterious unknown man has been seen in the Officers’ and Senior NCO messes. In Officers’ Row, staff have reportedly heard footsteps, had the feeling of being touched and felt cold spots, and heard the ringing of unplugged phones.

6) UBC/University Boulevard

Sometime in the 1960s, while driving on University Boulevard on their way to UBC’s main library, a couple got into an argument (or so the story goes). The young woman got out of the car and started walking in the rain. She was hit by a car and killed. But death, it seems, didn’t keep her from hitchhiking along that road. She’s been haunting young men who pick her up out of the rain by giving them a piece of paper with the library’s address on it. If the man is alone, she’ll jump in the rear seat, and then vanish. Also, at UBC’s library itself, the ghost of an older woman in a dress has been seen.

7) Hycroft Mansion, 1489 McRae Ave

Hycroft Mansion was a stately home built for politician and war hero Gen. Alexander Duncan McRae. Since his demise, it’s been the haunt, literally, of many honourable ghostly guests, including McRae (dressed in his First World War uniform) and his wife. The home was used as a veteran’s hospital during the Second World War, which makes the ghostly sounds of a crying man seem quite appropriate. Images of the head nurse have been seen, and apparitions of at least three war vets, in full uniform, would have made any visitor stand at attention.

The five-block area along Cordova and Water streets, east from Waterfront Station, includes some pretty creepy spots. Among the breathless tales: A man wearing a bowler hat was observed in the hallway of the Bodega Hotel. Another incident involved the manager of the card shop in the Hotel Europe, who was looking into a security mirror when she saw an eccentric looking man wearing strange clothes. These apparitions were dressed not like others of our time, but as they would have appeared in the late 1800s … about the same time as the Great Fire.

A decommissioned British Electric streetcar trolley from the 1950s sits in the middle of the dining room, and in it sits a ghost conductor. Longtime employees have reported hearing their names called out and feeling the presence of the mysterious diner, while vintage photos in the restaurant show a shadowy figure in a seat in the streetcar. A second ghost has also been reported: a red-headed man who likes to surprise women in the ladies' washroom.

With thanks to Lorne Richard, director of operations at Vancouver Trolley Tours, which conducts tours of local sites of murders and hauntings.

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